Supreme Court punts on revisiting landmark gay marriage decision
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal that was thought to be the only case that had standing to challenge the landmark 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized so-called same-sex marriage.
On Monday, Supreme Court justices denied a petition for a writ of certiorari for the case Kim Davis v. David Ermold, et al., according to court documents.
‘If ever a case deserved review, the first individual who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for seeking accommodation for her religious beliefs should be it.’
There were no notable dissents in the order, and no justices recused themselves.
Photo by Ty Wright/Getty Images
The appeal was brought by Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who was briefly jailed after refusing to issue marriage licenses for a homosexual couple who are party to the suit.
Davis was also ordered to pay $100,000 in damages plus another $260,000 in legal fees, according to her attorneys.
Her refusal to issue the marriage license was on religious grounds, raising serious First Amendment questions.
Davis’ appeal opens: “If ever a case deserved review, the first individual who was thrown in jail post-Obergefell for seeking accommodation for her religious beliefs should be it.”
Of the three questions presented in the petition, the last reads: “Whether Obergefell v. Hodges … and the legal fiction of substantive due process, should be overturned.”
Although Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have previously indicated a willingness to reconsider Obergefell, Davis’ case was always considered to be an uphill battle since four justices would need to assent to hearing it.
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Olympics committee expected to reverse course on men in women’s sports
The International Olympic Committee is set to make some significant changes to its rules about men participating in women’s sports categories.
According to the Times, the IOC will likely announce a ban on so-called “transgender women” competing in female sports.
‘We have to do that to ensure fairness. And we have to do it with scientific approach.’
This policy change comes after a “science-based” study led by Dr. Jane Thornton showed that men have significant physical advantages over biological women.
“It was a very scientific, factual, and unemotional presentation which quite clearly laid out the evidence,” one source told the Times.
RELATED: Medical exam reveals Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif has testicles, a penis, and XY chromosomes
Photo by Li Jing/Xinhua via Getty Images
Last year, the committee faced heated controversy after Algerian trans-identifying boxer Imane Khelif beat a woman to tears in the ring. A report later revealed a medical document showing that Khelif, who took home the gold medal after dominating the 66 kg women’s competition, has XY chromosomes.
The IOC’s shift in opinion on the issue of trans-identifying athletes follows a change in leadership in June of this year. The new president of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, indicated that there was “overwhelming support” for changing the rules to “protect the female category.”
“We have to do that to ensure fairness. And we have to do it with scientific approach and with the inclusion of the international federations who have done a lot of work in that area. So we have to bring in the experts — that will take a little bit of time — and the international federations so that we have full buy-in and cohesion on this specific topic,” Coventry said at a press conference shortly after becoming president.
Coventry said the rules will not have a retroactive effect, indicating an unwillingness to revisit the Khelif controversy: “We are not going to be doing anything retrospectively. We are going to be looking forward. And again, from the members that were here, it was: What are we learning from the past, and how are we going to leverage that and move that forward to the future, and how are we going to strengthen the movement as we move into the future?”
The policy change will likely be announced in early February before the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, according to Fox News.
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79-year-old landlord opens fire on naked intruder who body-slammed him to ground, breaking his legs
A 79-year-old landlord opened fire on a naked male intruder who body-slammed him to the ground Friday morning, breaking his legs, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 7:15 a.m. in the 4500 block of Tujunga Avenue at a Studio City apartment in Los Angeles, authorities told KABC-TV.
‘Why is he out here naked?’
Surveillance video captured the intruder walking naked around the neighborhood, the station said, adding that video also shows him at the front door of a home and grabbing a sign and then continuing to walk.
The suspect soon entered an apartment, after which two women who were home at the time confronted him, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson told KABC.
More from the station:
The women yelled at the trespasser to get out, prompting the landlord to rush to their aid, the LAPD said.
The intruder body-slammed the landlord, breaking both of the victim’s legs, police said.
The 79-year-old man “at this time, in self-defense, shoots the suspect three times,” said Capt. Warner Castillo of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Castillo added to KTTV-TV that the victim gave the naked man every opportunity to stop what he was doing before shots were fired.
“The 79-year-old man tells the suspect to leave, tells him I have a gun, and I will shoot you. The suspect grabs the 79-year-old man, lifts him, throws him on the ground, and that’s where the 79-year-old man suffered two broken legs,” Castillo noted to KTTV.
What’s more, Castillo added to KTTV that “the suspect got shot one time, and the suspect still approached the 79-year-old [who] shot the suspect again, killing him.”
KTTV noted that the victim, identified only as George, was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery. A neighbor added to KTTV the 79-year-old man is a Vietnam veteran.
The name of the suspect has not been released, KTTV noted. No injuries to the women were reported, KABC said.
“I heard commotion, like a lady yelling,” a woman who witnessed the incident and declined to be identified by name told KABC. “Then I looked over, and it was a naked guy. At first I thought it was just like, maybe it’s a house fire. Like, why is he out here naked?”
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Alden Richards, balik-Hong Kong para makipag-ugnayan sa mga OFW doon
Muling nagbalik sa Hong Kong si Alden Richards para makipag-ugnayan sa mga overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) doon bilang Ambassador ng Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
Meryl Soriano at Mel Martinez, nakaramdam ng ‘pressure’ sa trabaho dahil kay Maricel Soriano?
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